Ok, first off I can't rule out stupidity with regard to post. I've done my best to come at it from every angle, but me and my mate appear to be missing something when it comes to the Campaign. We did try, but you (FFG) haven't made it easy.

We have played Aftermath and then proceeded to play other missions, but after playing another two we realised that we weren't doing it correctly. So we went back to the rulebooks and tried to sort it out from scratch.

In the rules we found 4 sections that referred to the setting up of a Campaign and how to proceed. A couple of them repeat the same information and others contain snippets of information that aren't mentioned in the other sections. The 4 sections are:

Learn to Play:

Campaign Setup - page 10

Campaign Structure - page 13

Campaign Stages - page 16

Rules Reference Guide:

Campaign Setup - page 7

So we spent about 1 hour last night going back and forth between the rules trying to piece them together and get a better idea of what is going on. I believe that we managed to get our heads around some of it, but not all.

Questions:

When playing a Campaign for the first time am I correct in understanding that after playing Aftermath you move on to the next appropriate mission based on the result of the game? This is then repeated for the following Story Missions?

When choosing a Side Mission the Rebel player deals himself two cards, looks at them and chooses one of them to play?

Time period - on page 2 of the Campaign Guide says: "During campaign setup, do not use any Side Mission cards that do not include the range number associated with the Campaign. For this Campaign, the time period is 3". Where does this 3 come from? Does "time period" mean "rounds" in old money?

Is the Campaign Guide a "use once" book? Once you've completed it you need to wait for another book to come out or do you reuse it. I've seen mention of Campaigns using some sort of connected storyboard. Having looked at the Mission cards and the Campaign Guide I can't see anything that would allow you to do this, there appears to be no "story themes". Is this some sort of generic reference to future Campaign Book releases?

I did have more questions last night and I'm sure more will come to mind, but any help or link to an idiots guide would be most helpful.

I am in no shape or form an expert on any of the rules. However I'll try to give answers to what I can.

When you start a campaign, you always get Aftermath as the first mission. The second story mission depends on the outcome of Aftermath. After completing Aftermath the Rebel player(s) assembles a mission deck consisting of red missions corresponding to the characters chosen, 4 green missions chosen by the rebel player(s) and 4 gray missions selected at random by the Imperial player. The Imperial player also puts together an Agenda deck consisting of 18 cards (6 sets of 3). The Rebel players then draw the top two cards of their mission deck, these are the active side missions. Whenever a side mission is available as per the campaign log, the Rebel players selects one of the two active missions and completes that, before venturing on with the story.

Some of the side mission cards have a time period. You're only allowed to use side missions with numbers that include the time period for the campaign being played. The time period number for the campaign is listed on the very first page of campaign guide.

I am assuming that we'll see more campaigns in future expansions that have a different time period. As of now we only have the one campaign to play through, so the time period on the side missions doesn't matter at the moment.

I hope this helps a little bit.

1. Always start with Aftermath and follow accordingly. Look on the back page of the campaign guide. It shows in which order the missions are played. You'd be surprised how many overlook the backside. You can print copies from the FFG support page

2. Correct. The one that was not chosen remains in play and can be done at a later stage. You can only have two side missions active at one time so after the first draw you only draw one more.

3. Time period is there to prevent weird story anomalies with side missions when new campaign expansions are released. Currently you do not need to concern yourself with time period. Any card that does not have a time period printed on it, can always be used in any campaign. If the time period on a card (agenda, side mission, forced etc...) does not fit into the campaign specified time period, that card cannot be used in that campaign.

4. I do not understand. You can play the campaign several times as there are a lot of different paths to go through and lots events even in a single mission to increase replay value. The stories are in the cards and mission briefing "fluff". There is a very nice story to the campaign. Also...look at the backside of the campaign rulebook (you will find the campaign log). There are lots of story themes so I really do not understand you on this question.

In the rules it mentions that when choosing a new Campaign you should be using only missions that form a story. Given the replies here and another board I posted on it would appear the FFG are referring to future Campaign releases.

Yes. When playing a campaign, the campaign guide specifies which story mission will be next. You cannot randomly choose story missions.

Side missions/agenda missions/forced missions can be used as long as:

1) they fit into the campaign spcified time period

2) you have the story mission hero participating (red side missions)

Hope this helps!

You can also refer to the back of the Campaign book for a campaign log. It will show the order of missions (story, side, story story, side, side...etc.) and the current threat lvl for each mission.